Gaming Guru

Winning can make slot game a favorite

Every slot player has a favorite game, one to seek out on each casino trip. Sometimes it's because the theme is particularly engaging, or because a bonus event is especially fun.

But often, players like a game because they've won on it. Let's listen to a few players as they tell what hooked them on their favorite games.

Laura: It's Monopoly for me. I've played ever since the first ones came out. I decided to give the nickel video a try. All around me, people were cashing out thousands of nickels. They didn't have the tickets, it was all coins.

When you got to the bonus, you could go more than once around the board. I was doing really well, and then I landed on Boardwalk. THAT was exciting. I won so many nickels the machine couldn't pay me, a change girl and a supervisor came over and paid me. Yay!

I cashed out, and went over and played the quarter game, and I went to Boardwalk there, too! I was hooked. All this time later, if there's a Monopoly game where you can go around the board, I'm going to give it a try.

Joe: My wife and I had the most unbelievable run of luck on Red, White and Blue. We play other things, of course, but when we're walking through the casino and one of us spots Red, White and Blue, we'll look at each other and smile, and say, "Should we?" Of course we should.

She started it. Martha was playing, and doing pretty well, while I was walking around and playing other things. A little craps, some blackjack. I was losing money, and I guess I had that look. I found Martha and she pointed to the machine next to her and said, "Play this for a while." You can guess what happened. Red 7, white 7, blue 7. I won $10,000 and she said, "I told you! I could feel it."

Not 20 minutes later, she did it -- red, white, blue, $10,000. Unbelievable.

But that's not all. Two weeks later, she went back one morning when I was at work. She went to her same machine, and she won it again. Yep. Red, white and blue 7s.

I guess that's getting to be a long time ago, probably 15 years. But it's still a game that keeps us coming back.

Audra: My first big jackpot game on a Blazing 7s three-reel game. I still remember the exact amount: $1,173 on a dollar progressive. It was so exciting! I was there with my boyfriend and another couple, and I think I had been in a casino only two or three times before that. They counted the money out to me, with 11 $100 bills, then the rest. I'm not sure I'd ever held a $100 bill before, and certainly had never held that much money at once.

I play a pretty good mix of games. A lot of pennies on video, still some quarter and dollar three-reel games. One of the games I look for is Blazing 7s. It still has magic for me.

Jerry: You don't see this one around all that much anymore: Cash Crop. When I see it, I play it. It's a video slot, and in the bonus you grow crops in a field, then pick plants for bonuses. You get extra if you get a gold or silver plant, but you have to watch out and not pick on a gopher. That can end the bonus.

My son and I were playing it in Vegas, and every time we turned around we were going back to the bonus. On every crop, we kept picking the right plants, getting the bonuses and getting to raise another crop. We played for hours, and never hit that cold streak. We started with $20 in nickels, and must have taken $400 out of that machine. It's still a game I can't resist.

Emily: For me, it's The Hangover. The first time I played, I won about $80. That's not much, I know, but it was right when my girlfriends and I were about to leave. My husband and I had seen the movie, and I knew the game was out, but this was the first time I played.

I only played for 15 or 20 minutes, but I went to the bonus four times. Once I got to go to the Villa and go from room to room, touching swords and TVs and whatever, and before you know it I had more than 10,000 credits. They were pennies, so it didn't make me rich, but still I was $80 to the good. I took my husband out for pizza when I got home.

We went back a couple of weeks later, and I won another $20. I guess I'm hooked.

This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net.

John Grochowski is the best-selling author of The Craps Answer Book, The Slot Machine Answer Book and The Video Poker Answer Book. His weekly column is syndicated to newspapers and Web sites, and he contributes to many of the major magazines and newspapers in the gaming field, including Midwest Gaming and Travel, Slot Manager, Casino Journal, Strictly Slots and Casino Player.

Listen to John Grochowski's "Casino Answer Man" tips Tuesday through Friday at 5:18 p.m. on WLS-AM (890) in Chicago. Look for John Grochowski on Facebook and Twitter @GrochowskiJ.

John Grochowski Websites:

Books by John Grochowski:

John Grochowski is the best-selling author of The Craps Answer Book, The Slot Machine Answer Book and The Video Poker Answer Book. His weekly column is syndicated to newspapers and Web sites, and he contributes to many of the major magazines and newspapers in the gaming field, including Midwest Gaming and Travel, Slot Manager, Casino Journal, Strictly Slots and Casino Player.

Listen to John Grochowski's "Casino Answer Man" tips Tuesday through Friday at 5:18 p.m. on WLS-AM (890) in Chicago. Look for John Grochowski on Facebook and Twitter @GrochowskiJ.

Books by John Grochowski:

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